Zander’s POV.
I leaned back in my chair, the faint crackle of the fire in my office doing little to soothe my irritation. Aria had been at Silverfang castle for barely two days, yet she had already managed to push every button I had. Her insolence, her defiance-it was infuriating.
I couldn’t afford to let her behavior continue. Control was everything, and if Aria thought she could challenge me, she was gravely mistaken. She would learn to follow my rules, even if it meant breaking her spirit in the process.
I tapped my fingers on the desk, the rhythmic sound filling the silence of the room as I thought about the dinner I had planned for tonight. My cousins, Victor and Helena, were arriving shortly, and I needed everything to be perfect. Aria would be presented as my future Luna, and I didn’t want any surprises.
“Marcus!” I called sharply, my voice echoing through the halls.
Within moments, my right-hand man entered the room, his posture rigid and respectful. Marcus had been with me for years, loyal to a fault and efficient in every task he was given.
“You called, Alpha?” he asked, his voice steady.
“I need you to handle something for me,” I said, standing and crossing the room to face him. “Aria’s wardrobe is unacceptable. She’s going to be my mate, and she needs to dress the part. Go into town and buy her new clothes-decent ones. I want the best designer brands. Dresses, formal wear, everything a Luna should have.”
Marcus nodded without hesitation. “Understood, Alpha. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
I waved him off, but as he turned to leave, I called after him. “Take Eleanor with you,” I added, referring to my assistant. “She’ll know what’s appropriate.”
With a curt nod, Marcus left to carry out my orders. I returned to my desk, satisfied that this issue was being handled. But as the hours passed, the anticipation of dinner gnawed at me. Aria’s resistance was like a thorn in my side, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that she would find some way to undermine me tonight.
As the time for dinner approached, I made my way to her room. The guards stationed outside stepped aside as I knocked once before entering without waiting for permission.
Aria was sitting by the window, her arms crossed as she stared out at the sprawling Silverfang estate. When she turned to look at me, her expression was one of thinly veiled annoyance.
“I didn’t say you could come in,” she said coldly.
I ignored her tone, stepping further into the room. My eyes swept over the small pile of clothes Marcus and Eleanor had brought back earlier. The dresses were elegant, refined-exactly what I wanted her to wear.
I walked over to the wardrobe, selecting a deep blue dress with long sleeves and a modest neckline. It was simple yet stunning, the kind of dress that would command respect without being ostentatious.
“Wear this to dinner,” I said, holding the dress out to her. “My cousins will be joining us, and I expect you to look presentable.”
She glanced at the dress, her nose wrinkling slightly in disdain. “You mean you expect me to look like a doll you can dress up however you please,” she muttered under her breath.
I narrowed my eyes, my patience already wearing thin. “This isn’t a request, Aria,” I said, my voice low and firm. “Be downstairs in twenty minutes. Wearing this.”
Without waiting for a response, I left the room, slamming the door behind me.
—
When Aria finally appeared in the dining hall, twenty minutes late, I felt the fury rise in my chest before I even turned to look at her. The sound of her heels clicking on the marble floor announced her arrival, and when I finally did look up, my breath caught in my throat.
She had completely ignored me.
Instead of the blue dress I had chosen, she was wearing a short, tight red dress that clung to her curves in all the wrong-or perhaps all the right-ways. The neckline was low, the hem barely decent, and the color… The bold, fiery red was practically mocking me.
For a moment, I couldn’t look away. She was beautiful, infuriatingly so, and the way she carried herself-confident, defiant-only made her more alluring. But I couldn’t let her win.
I forced my expression to harden, my jaw clenching as I stood from my seat. My cousins, Victor and Helena, were already seated, and I could see the faint flicker of amusement in Victor’s eyes as he watched the scene unfold.
“Aria,” I said, my voice cutting through the low hum of conversation in the dining hall. It was cold, sharp, and meant to scold her before she even had a chance to speak. My eyes narrowed as I took in her appearance, and the anger bubbling inside me began to rise. “What are you wearing?” My tone was laced with irritation, each word dripping with the disapproval I wanted her to feel.
She tilted her head slightly, her dark hair spilling over one shoulder as a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. The expression on her face was both infuriating and deliberate-she knew exactly what she was doing. “A dress,” she said simply, her tone light and unapologetic, as though she hadn’t just blatantly ignored my command. There was no guilt, no shame, no acknowledgment of the disrespect she had just shown me.
“That’s not the dress I chose for you,” I said, my voice tight as I fought to keep my rage in check. My jaw clenched as I stared at her, the bold red fabric clinging to her in a way that was both improper and entirely inappropriate for the occasion. I had picked a dress for her-a modest, elegant one that reflected her future role as Luna. This… this was a mockery of that.
“I didn’t like the one you picked,” she replied, her voice casual, her shoulders lifting in a shrug as if to say it was no big deal. “So I wore this instead.” Her tone was maddeningly calm, her words delivered with the kind of defiance that made my blood boil. She didn’t even try to hide her rebellion. It was there, laid bare for everyone in the room to see.
The audacity.
I took a deep breath, trying desperately to contain the fury building inside me. My hands balled into fists at my sides, the tension in my body coiling tighter with every passing second. She was doing this on purpose; I could see it in the way her smirk widened ever so slightly, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “You’re making a fool of yourself,” I said at last, my voice low and dangerous, each word carefully measured to convey my displeasure.
“Am I?” she asked, arching one delicate eyebrow as though she genuinely didn’t believe me. Her voice was calm, her tone almost playful, but there was an edge of defiance that cut through her words. “Or are you just upset that you can’t control everything I do?” She met my gaze directly, her chin tilted up in silent challenge.
That was it. The final straw.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I grabbed the bowl of soup from the table, my movements quick and fueled by the anger coursing through me. The warm liquid flew through the air, splattering across the front of her dress in a messy streak of orange and red. It stained the vibrant fabric, dripping down to the floor in uneven rivulets. The bowl clattered back onto the table, the sound ringing out loudly in the now-silent room.
Aria gasped, the sound sharp and filled with shock as she stared down at the ruined dress. Her chest rose and fell quickly, her breathing uneven as the reality of what had just happened sank in. Her wide eyes darted up to meet mine, and for the first time, I saw her defiance falter. Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson, not from embarrassment alone, but from the mix of anger and humiliation that now radiated off of her. For a brief moment, guilt flickered in the back of my mind. Had I gone too far? But the feeling was fleeting, vanishing as quickly as it had come.
“Go back to your room,” I commanded, my voice booming in the otherwise silent hall. The authority in my tone left no room for argument, and I made sure to emphasize each word. “Change into something appropriate. Now.” My glare bore into her, daring her to defy me again, but this time she didn’t.
For a moment, she stood frozen in place, her hands trembling at her sides as though she was trying to hold herself together. Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out. Then, without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the dining hall, her footsteps echoing loudly against the marble floor as she disappeared through the doors.
I sat back down in my chair, ignoring the stares of the others at the table. Victor and Helena, my cousins, exchanged a glance before Victor leaned back in his seat, a smirk playing on his lips as he broke the tense silence. “She’s fiery,” he said, his tone amused. He reached for his glass of wine, swirling the dark liquid lazily as though this entire scene had been nothing more than entertainment for him.
“She’s a problem,” I replied, my voice cold and devoid of any humor. I didn’t bother looking at him. My focus was still on the door Aria had just stormed through, my thoughts racing as I replayed the confrontation in my head.
But deep down, I couldn’t deny the truth. As much as her defiance infuriated me, as much as her rebellious nature made me want to put her in her place, there was something about her that I couldn’t ignore.
Problem or not, Aria Nightshade was going to be mine. She would learn to obey me, to respect me, to understand her place at my side. She didn’t know it yet, but this was a battle she could never win.